[SBB] Jan. 2 mountain birding

Hi All,

A visit to the Gate 5 pond at Monte Bello yesterday morning 1/2/2007 turned up birder John Arnold plus just 1 Lawrence's Goldfinch (which seemed to be looking for its friends). The Hooded Merganser group had grown slightly to 5. A flock of 9 Western Bluebirds was the largest seen there in a while. A complete list from the morning pond visit (fide e-bird) is below.

Later I walked down to Upper Stevens Creek County Park's Table Mountain via Charcoal Rd., returning along the narrow Saratoga Gap Trail, a loop of about 5 miles, in search of forest specialties. This walk turned up very low numbers of birds, although the other natural wonders were as lovely as ever. Notably, not one finch of any type was found along the route. Also odd was zero Varied Thrushes; all that excitement is elsewhere. Sadly, almost all of the mature trees have been removed from the top of Table Mtn. itself, so it is now off my list of places to go in the county for pine-loving birds such as crossbills, nuthatches etc. I think the county parks people are cleansing the non-native remnants of an old Xmas tree farm there.

A Northern Pygmy Owl out in the open in the recently-cleared area on Table Mtn. was a very nice consolation prize which allowed a close approach and extended observation. What a marvel. Several Golden-crowned Kinglets were in firs on the way back up, as were two widely separate Winter Wrens.

Late in the afternoon I revisited the Gate 5 pond - it has proven worthwhile to bookend my commuter visits before; it's amazing what a difference a few hours can make in terms of the mix of bird species. There were more Lawrence's Goldfinches around at that point, and the Sora, which had eluded me earlier, called. Most surprising, however, was a very shy Wilson's Snipe along the waterline - in the past I have only seen this species at the pond at migration times.

Good birding to all,

Garth Harwood

Location:     Monte Bello OSP Gates 4, 5
Observation date:     1/2/07
Number of species:     33

Hooded Merganser     5
California Quail     1
Pied-billed Grebe     3
White-tailed Kite     1
Red-tailed Hawk     1
American Coot     3
Band-tailed Pigeon     5
Anna's Hummingbird     1
Acorn Woodpecker     3
Northern Flicker     1
Black Phoebe     1
Hutton's Vireo     1
Steller's Jay     2
Western Scrub-Jay     2
Common Raven     10
Bushtit     12
Bewick's Wren     1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet     3
Western Bluebird     9
Hermit Thrush     1
American Robin     32
Varied Thrush     5
Cedar Waxwing     9
Yellow-rumped Warbler     4
California Towhee     1
Fox Sparrow     1
Song Sparrow     4
Lincoln's Sparrow     2
Golden-crowned Sparrow     6
Dark-eyed Junco     1
Purple Finch     1
Lesser Goldfinch     6
Lawrence's Goldfinch     1